Archive for the ‘defiant’ Category

WASHINGTON – President Bush, raising the ire of Beijing, on Wednesday called on Chinese leaders to welcome the Dalai Lama to the communist nation. The president called him a “universal symbol of peace and tolerance, a shepherd of the faithful and a keeper of the flame for his people.”

“He has won the respect and affection of the American people,” Bush said at the U.S. Capitol where the spiritual head of Tibet’s Buddhists received the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal.

“America cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and close their eyes or turn away,” said Bush, who personally handed the medal …..